We report on the commissioning and first observing run of the VLT visitor instrument DAZLE. DAZLE (Dark Ages "Z" Lyman Explorer), is an innovative near-infrared narrowband imager optimised to detect faint emission lines between the intense hydroxyl (OH) airglow emission lines that dominate the terrestrial night sky in the wavelength range 0.8-1.8 microns. The scientific goal is to detect redshifted Lyman-alpha line emission from hydrogen gas ionised by the young stars in galaxies at redshifts greater than 7.5.